A Pinky Paradigm

by Ray D Merenstein

When David Wahl, Rabbi Gerson and I agreed that I would speak on the topic of Hagbah and the raised pinky... I became ever so curious as to how many explanations there would be. I will share many of these with you, but first, I must share a Native American fable I came across while researching the pinky topic. The fable is written by Storie-Jean Agapith and inspired by Seth Albert Weed.

Many years ago there was a small pink buffalo, named Pinky. Pinky was just a little buffalo that watched the Indian People grow through the years. Many years had passed, and Pinky watched the Indian People become civilized. The salmon was blocked from their natural spawning streams by great dams, and the timber was being harvested in large amounts; but the Indian People didn't seem to notice. Had they forgotten the old teachings?

Pinky decided he could make a difference. So he went up the mountain and tried to climb a big tree. Mr. Chipmunk asked; "Pinky, what do you think you are doing? Pinky replied, "I am trying to save this tree, the people with white skin are cutting down all the trees." The chipmunk said that this tree was his, and he would save it, he told Pinky to go find a new tree to save.

So Pinky went on up the line, and tried another tree. This time a squirrel said the same things the chipmunk did.

He tried out another tree, and heard "Who, who, whose making noise in my tree?" Pinky told the owl what he was trying to do. The owl said to try another tree.

Pinky found a nice tall thick tree. This time an eagle landed in the tree and said "Pinky, this is my tree, I like to sit way up here and rest, so why do you want up in my tree". Pinky told his story, the eagle said to find another tall tree to climb, and to leave his tree alone.

Pinky didn't give up; he kept going up the line of trees to make his point. But each tree had a chipmunk, a squirrel, an owl, a nest of raccoons, or a great eagle that told him to find a new tree. Surely he would find a tree to save. After all, he was doing this for his people.

The Indian people must have heard Pinky and all his attempts. The trees creaking with animals or swooshing in the wind. In one way or another, Pinky made his feelings known to his people.

Pinky made a difference.

Now there are tree harvesting programs, planting programs, and thinning programs for our forests. Pinky continued to find new adventures that concerned saving the customs of his People. Pinky agreed it was good to be civilized as long as his people remember their culture.

Heed the lesson from the fable of Pinky the Buffalo. Remember our culture and treasure the customs of our people. Today, as I speak to you about lifting your pinky upward as the Torah is lifted, let us all think of our culture – a culture crafted by the words and laws of the Torah.

So why do we have this custom of raising our pinky to the torah during Hagbah? The answers are as plentiful as the numbers of pinkies in a congregation. The answers, my fellow congregants, range from the genealogical to the kabbalistic.

Perhaps we raise one of our ten fingers to recall the ten generations between Adam and Noah, and the ten from Noah to Abraham. Other explanations, like that of Anita Diamant, point to the tradition of what she calls a folkway -- a custom that just caught on. Many others do point out that it was a Sephardic custom that was adapted by the Ashkenazi Jews. But even that may depend on what region of the world you pray. In Mexico or Italy it is said some synagogues use both hands. Each hand is raised during hagba and both hands then come down to briefly cover the face. In some Greek tradition, only the women raise a pinky.

There are of course many more explanations, many of which were outlined in a Jerusalem Post article by Noam Neusner entitled the pinky paradox. What he mentions ranges from pagan culture to Talmudic lessons. For example:

Pagan symbolism says the pinky contains the nyama – life's force. It's intriguing to draw a connection to the torah as life's force. Meanwhile, in the Talmud, Yerushalmi Moed Qatan refers to a passage in Psalms where the righteous shall point to the Holy One as a sign of respect. Folkways, life's force, respect – these all seem reasonable tie-ins to the pinky. Yet there are a few more intriguing possibilities I'd like to share.

An explanation from one of Rabbi Gerson's colleagues, Daniel Kripper, notes each finger is associated with another sefirah of the Ten Sefirot. The little finger of the right hand corresponds to Netzah identified with Moshe – a clear connection to V'zot HaTorah asher som Moshe. Other scholarly thoughts from Shulchan Aruch, Rashi or Rabbeinu Bechaye, to quote Noam Neusner' Jerusalem Post article, weave a seamless story about how one is supposed to look carefully at the Torah as it is held aloft, and how the tradition was extended to the hand, and then to the pinky, the most humble of fingers.

Now if you ask me why the tradition, why the custom, why the explanation... I will tell you that when it comes to changing diapers all week long... my pinky finger is used the least. Actually, it's more than that. My index finger is tired of flipping through books, my other fingers fatigued from typing after a week of work, and my thumb exhausted from gripping a pen. So why not the pinky?

I decided to come up with my own explanation too. In American Sign Language, raising the pinky is the equivalent of the letter 'I'... for me, a natural connection to "I am the Lord Your God". And if you think about the sign for I love you, it too is dependent on the pinky. Let the pinky then, perhaps, be a reminder that "you shall love the Lord your God."

So, simply put, the next time we rise to sing "V'zot HaTorah...This is the Torah that God gave to Moses," let us not simply raise the pinky, but think of our belief and our interpretation of why we raise it. We, like pinky the buffalo, should constantly recognize the world around us as one given to us – not one to take away. Let us be reminded, as we raise the pinky, to each do our part to protect the world God gave us – through the torah, through prayer and through acts of loving kindness.

Shabbat Shalom.